Accountant salary in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA

Pay in Riverside-San Bernardino against California and the US

The middle half of accountants in Riverside-San Bernardino earns $69,840–$105,580. The top tenth earns $135,140 or more, 2.4 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.6 times. The mean ($91,800) is 9% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $35,740 wide, against $50,040 across California and $42,790 nationally: employers in Riverside-San Bernardino pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for an accountant here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $21,660 over the median, the 25th only $14,080 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $27,948 a year in employer cost. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $83,680 falls between the 25th percentile and the median in Riverside-San Bernardino, and the California statewide median of $97,050 falls between the median and the 75th percentile.

What a hire really costs in Riverside-San Bernardino

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $24,364 to the $83,920 median and brings it to $108,284 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for accountants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Riverside-San Bernardino

Of the 17 roles we track in Riverside-San Bernardino, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($100,770); recruiters come next at $76,570.

Measured against the US median, accountants rank #12 of the 17 roles we track in Riverside-San Bernardino (+0.3%), between recruiters (+0.8%) and project coordinators (-1.5%). The typical role here is at +3.3%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Accountants hold 7.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Riverside-San Bernardino, 10.5% across California and 9.1% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in California

Across the 28 areas of California with data for this job, the median runs from $74,880 in the North Coast Region of California nonmetro area to $121,700 in San Jose-Sunnyvale, a gap of $46,820 a year. All 5 areas in California with more accountants than Riverside-San Bernardino also pay more, among them Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($94,360) and San Francisco-Oakland, CA ($110,730).

Riverside-San Bernardino against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Riverside-San Bernardino is #34 of 521 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside California, Rochester and Richmond pay just above Riverside-San Bernardino and Casper and Ithaca just below. All four are within $300 a year of the median in Riverside-San Bernardino. Of the three markets with about as many accountants, none pays as much.

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How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.